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Repudiation of State Debt in Texas Since 1861

REPUDIATION OF STATE DEBT IN TEXAS SINCE 1861E. T. MILLEROn January 28, 1861, at the assembling of the convention whichadopted the ordinance of secession,, Texas had no bonded debt. Asearly as January, 1860, however, the State treasury had been experi-encing difficulty because of insufficient taxation and increased ex-penditures for frontier defence; and United States bonds weretransferred from the university fund to provide the State revenueaccount with cash. But despite this transfer State warrants wereoutstanding and there was no cash to pay them. The State wasnot responsible for any of the funded debt of the Republic ofTexas which may have been outstanding on January 28, 1861, forthough the State assumed at annexation the debt of the Republic,the United States government by the acts of September 9, 1850,and February 28, 1855, provided for the payment of all of thefunded debt.The first official statement of the debt incurred during the warwas made in October, 1865. A. J. Hamilton was appointed pro-visional governor of Texas by President Johnson on January 17,1865, and ex-Governor Pease and Swante Palm were appointed bythe provisional governor to report on the finances of the Statesince secession. Their report was made under date of October 30,1865.1 The following analysis of the debt is based on their re-port and on the State statutes:Item I. 8 per cent State Bonds. Authorized by theAct of March 20, 1861, entitled "An Act to pro-vide for the funding of the debt contracted for theprotection of the frontier2 ................... $ 16,000.001Executive Record, No. 281, Archives of the State Department ofTexas. The report is abridged and printed as an appendix to the HouseJournal, 1866.'General Laws, 8th Leg., Extra Session, Chap. 28; repealing Act ofJanuary 11, 1862. General Laws, 9th Leg., Chap. 63.